Bye Bye Paci!

Jason and I watch a lot of Supernanny. We watched it before we had kids and got a lot of great, practical parenting tips from the show. I vowed that my kids would never behave like some of the kids we've seen on there. One of my own personal "pet peeves" is seeing kindergarteners walking around with pacis still in their mouths.

All of my kids have liked the paci. I wanted them to like it because I was a thumb sucker when I was little and I remember sucking my thumb for a long time after I probably shouldn't have been. I also remember how hard my mom tried to break me of the habit. So to avoid cutting off my kids' thumbs (totally joking!) I made sure they got real aquainted with the paci right away. This way when they get close to 18 months we could take it away.

I know many people that have tried many different things to accomplish this task, and I'm passing on the best advice I was ever told. When Josh was little, a friend of mine told me to simply snip off the end of the paci so that it loses its suction. Then the child will think its broken and won't want it anymore. I snipped the end off this paci and you can barely see it - that's how little you have to cut off.

So it was now Julianna's turn to give up the "beloved paci". Granted she only used this at nap and bed times, it was still something that I thought would be difficult for her to give up. I did wait a little longer than 18 months with her, simply because I wanted her to know that the paci was for the baby and to see that. So, I snipped the ends off all her pacis and it took just the one day for her not to want them anymore..... At first she cried....

But now she hands them to me and tells me "baby Jayden paci". And she no longer even desires to have one. Way to go Julianna! You're a big girl now!